Chapter 10: A Warning
"Have you gone stupid from being a nun?" Li Fei looked at Yan Jiayu like she was a lunatic. A kind heart?
But the old man and He Yang quickly agreed. The female student followed Professor Han's lead, and after Professor Han nodded, the remaining people were in the minority—an arm can't twist a thigh.
Professor Han and Li Fei stood on either side of the door, with Xu Huo opening it.
The person pushing the wheelchair was a tall man. He stood still, pushing the wheelchair forward a bit. "Her legs aren't convenient. She won't make it through the night in third class. Can you take her in?"
The young woman in the wheelchair was pale and frail, her expression timid, completely not recovered from the shock of the past day and night. Her eyes only held fear as she looked at Xu Huo and the others.
"Are you siblings?" Xu Huo bent down and lifted the hem of her nightgown. Sure enough, her legs were already somewhat deformed.
"No." The man didn't stop his actions.
"No way!" Li Fei objected first. Even though the person in the wheelchair looked weak and frail, he couldn't take that risk. "What if she's a cannibal player?"
The young woman reacted. "I'm not a cannibal player..."
Probably recalling the scenes she had witnessed, she started dry heaving before she could finish.
Xu Huo moved aside. "Come in."
The man didn't step into the car. He only pushed the wheelchair inside.
The young woman looked back at him, but the man didn't say anything more, didn't even glance at her, and turned back to the third-class car.
"You let someone in without the others' consent. Is this car yours?" Li Fei was furious. "One more person means one more risk..."
Before he could finish, Xu Huo pulled the wheelchair to the side, grabbed him by the collar, shoved him out the door, and slammed it shut. "Now it's just right, not too many, not too few."
Li Fei's face changed drastically. He desperately pulled at the door, cursing nonstop, but Xu Huo just held the door handle, staring at him expressionlessly.
Professor Han thought this wasn't good and was about to say something, but Yan Jiayu also ran over and held the door shut, saying seriously, "We'll be reasonable. If you agree, we'll let you in!"
Xu Huo tugged at the door, found her strength astonishing, so he let go and stepped back.
A look of deep resentment filled Li Fei's face, but the gazes from the third-class seats made him feel like needles were pricking his back. With no other choice, he had to say, "Fine, I agree! I agree to let that woman in!"
The door behind him rattled. Li Fei's resentment vanished, his face turning pale as he shouted, "I admit I was wrong, Grandma! I was wrong, open the door...!"
Just as the cannibal player in third class lunged out, Yan Jiayu loosened her grip, swiftly pulled Li Fei in through the crack, and slammed the door shut again, locking the cannibal player outside!
The meat at his mouth had flown away. The player, unwilling to accept it, punched and kicked the metal door a few times, but the glass on the door was specially made. He hit it over a dozen times without leaving a single mark, and finally had to leave in hatred.
Li Fei, slumped in the car, gasped for breath, a mix of fear and anger twisting his face as he glared at Xu Huo and Yan Jiayu.
Yan Jiayu's eyes widened. "Are you going back on your word?"
Li Fei was about to retort, but when he caught sight of Xu Huo coldly staring at him from beside her, he swallowed his words and turned his head away. "If she really is a cannibal player... well, it won't be me who regrets it."
With Li Fei's example as a warning, the middle-aged woman didn't dare say anything either. She silently found a seat and sat down.
Xu Huo waited for a moment. Not hearing any announcement about rule violations, he pushed the wheelchair over to the window and asked, "What's your name?"
"Wang Xiaohui." Wang Xiaohui clenched her fists and placed them beside her knees, saying nervously, "I'm not a cannibal player."
"I know." Xu Huo said, "I'm not responsible for protecting you. There are cannibal players in second class too. Be careful yourself. By the way, how many players are left in third class?"
Wang Xiaohui quickly replied, "Counting me, seven."
Xu Huo nodded.
Yan Jiayu gave her a packet of compressed biscuit paste. "Are you hungry? This was soaked with water I bought."
Wang Xiaohui took it with tears in her eyes and stuffed it into her mouth. "You're all so kind."
The rest of the time passed quickly. After setting the night watch rotation, everyone went to the restroom in turn and then returned to the car.
This time, Professor Han and the female student guarded the front door, while Yan Jiayu and Li Fei guarded the back door.
The back door wasn't a big problem; the main concern was the front door. So Professor Han moved tables and chairs to block the door in advance and instructed the other players, "No matter what happens, don't turn on the lights. Don't even use your phones. Make sure to turn them off tonight."
"I don't think there's any punishment for breaking the rules. There's no need to be so alarmed," the heavily made-up woman said, glancing at Wang Xiaohui.
"What if it affects the rewards at the end of the game?" Professor Han said seriously. "Just because there's no punishment now doesn't mean there won't be later. I'll guard the switch tonight. Liu Jia, stand a bit closer."
The female student, Liu Jia, followed his gaze to the switch, her expression tense as she stepped back a little.
Xu Huo watched her movements, frowned, and looked out the window again.
"Except for the door guards, can the rest of you sit in the middle seats?" Professor Han looked around at everyone. "That way, there's a buffer distance between us."
Keeping distance was essentially a precaution against cannibal players attacking others.
"Aren't there three corpses in the car?" He Yang said coldly. "If you get hungry, you can eat them. Isn't that much more convenient than attacking others?"
This unspoken thought was shared by all the players. Using a few dead bodies to keep everyone alive and peaceful until they got off the train—that would be the best outcome.
The heavily made-up woman walked over and sat down. Xu Huo chose a seat diagonally across from her. The middle-aged woman and the old man sat at the next table.
Wang Xiaohui didn't know who to trust and instinctively slid her wheelchair over next to Xu Huo.
"Mr. Xu..." Just before the lights were about to go out, Liu Jia suddenly spoke to Xu Huo. "You... be careful." She also glanced at the heavily made-up woman.
Because of Chen Yi's incident, the others just thought she was worried about her savior and didn't pay much attention. But Xu Huo confirmed one thing: last night, the female student must have "seen" something.
Initially, he thought Chen Yi was also a cannibal player, but the fact that he attacked Xu Huo first last night actually proved he wasn't. If he was just trying to fill his stomach, attacking Liu Jia would have been much easier.
The seemingly weaker old man and the oval-faced woman in the same car had both been attacked.
Chen Yi wanted to kill him, probably for the sake of playing the game itself, to get a high score reward.
Liu Jia's scream wasn't caused by an attack. And now she was specifically warning him to be careful, which was actually hinting that the heavily made-up woman was a cannibal player.
The heavily made-up woman's behavior didn't seem like that of a cannibal player. She had even warned the other players to keep secrets when they first boarded. Liu Jia had initially liked her, but after the lights came on today, she had been keeping her distance.
The oval-faced woman had three wounds of varying sizes on her body. Aside from the square-faced man and Li Fei, the old man who was by the door at the time, the heavily made-up woman nearby, and Yan Jiayu, who had been silent in the darkness, were all highly suspicious.
These three were very suspicious. Liu Jia's hint might not be true either. Setting aside the matter of cannibal players for now, Xu Huo looked at the two people guarding the light switch. They were too nervous. Although Professor Han had also emphasized following the rules and turning off the lights and phones yesterday, he wasn't as alarmed as he was now. This change had only come after they exchanged information today.
"You saw something outside the window too?" he suddenly asked.